Perspectives on Education: Capabilities...The Capabilities Necessary for Practice file:///U|/Users/JustinS/pubs/big8/sect3.

htm

Perspectives on Education:
Capabilities for Success in the
Accounting Profession

The Capabilities Necessary for Practice

The dialogue about education must be based on a clear statement of the capabilities needed for
practice. Also, there must be a focus on the broader skills that will support a lifetime of professional
success. Without a clear set of capabilities to use as objectives in the curriculum design process, it
is unlikely that change in the current content or teaching methods will be responsive to the needs of
the profession.

In 1988, the AICPA issued a revised version of its Education Requirements for Entry into the
Accounting Profession. That monograph includes an illustrative program of study with narrative
descriptions of the appropriate content in specific areas. While the AICPA report and the capabilities
described in this paper have much in common, the following focuses on the desired outcomes of the
educational process, as contrasted with courses of study.

Educational for the accounting profession must produce graduates who have a broad array
of skills and knowledge.

Skills for Public Accounting

To be successful, an individual must bring to the practice several general skills. These are divided
into three categories:

Communication skills

Intellectual skills

Interpersonal skills.

The categories are not mutually exclusive and cannot be considered in a vacuum. Obviously the
communication skills are highly interrelated with the interpersonal skills, and some of the intellectual
skills are dependent on some of the communication skills. The curriculum must support all of these
skills.

Communication Skills

Public accounting requires its practitioners to be able to transfer and receive information with ease.

Practitioners must be able to present and defend their views through formal and informal, written and
oral, presentation. They must be able to do so at peer level with business executives.

As the rate of change in the business world increases, so does the amount of information that must
be gathered from outside sources. Practitioners must be able to listen effectively to gain information
and understand opposing points of view. They also will need the ability to locate, obtain and organize
information from both human and electronic sources.

Intellectual Skills

Individuals seeking to be successful in the diverse world of public accounting must be able to use
creative problem-solving skills in a consultative process. They must be able to solve diverse and
unstructured problems in unfamiliar settings. They must be able to comprehend an unfocused set of
facts; identify and, if possible, anticipate problems; and find acceptable solutions. This requires an
understanding of the determining forces in a given situation and the ability to predict their effects.

1 of 3 5/19/99 11:10 AM
Perspectives on Education: Capabilities...The Capabilities Necessary for Practice file:///U|/Users/JustinS/pubs/big8/sect3.htm

Inductive thought processes and capabilities for judgment must be developed to support such
activities. Practitioners must also be able to identify ethical issues and apply a value-based
reasoning system to ethical questions.

The practice of public accounting, like the practice of any profession, includes many challenging
pressures. Conflicting demands, unexpected requirements and coinciding deadlines are but a few of
the sources of stress found in practice. The effective practitioner must be able to manage these
pressures. This requires the ability and judgment to select and assign priorities within restricted
resources and organize work to meet tight deadlines when necessary.

Interpersonal Skills

The ability to work with other human beings is an important part of public practice. Working
effectively in groups with diverse members to accomplish a task is essential.

The practitioner must be able to influence others; organize and delegate tasks; motivate and develop
other people; and withstand and resolve conflict. These are the skills of a competent manager.
Because public accountants advise clients on the operation of their businesses, they should possess
the requisite management skills. They must also be able to assume leadership positions within their
own firms.

Knowledge for Public Accounting

An individual must also bring to the practice of public accounting a large body of knowledge. It is
categorized here into three areas:

General Knowledge

Organizational and business knowledge

Accounting and auditing knowledge.

To counter the temptation to focus only on knowledge directly related to accounting and auditing, this
discussion starts with the general knowledge category.

General Knowledge

For the good of the profession and society as a whole, education for accounting must include a
sufficiently large, broad and deep general education component to yield a level of knowledge that is
characteristic of broadly educated person.

The successful practitioner requires general knowledge that covers a number of factors:

An understanding of the flow of events in history and the different cultures in today's world.

The ability to interact with diverse groups of people and at the highest levels of intellectual
exchange.

A sense of the breadth of ideas, issues and contrasting economic, political and social forces
in the world.

Experience in making value judgments.

The general education component of university education should support the development of these
factors and should leave the student excited about, and prepared for, lifelong learning.

Organizational and Business Knowledge

To understand their clients' and their own work environments, public accountants must have an
understanding of the economic, social cultural and psychological forces that affect organizations.
They must also understand the basic internal workings of organizations and be able to apply this

2 of 3 5/19/99 11:10 AM
Perspectives on Education: Capabilities...The Capabilities Necessary for Practice file:///U|/Users/JustinS/pubs/big8/sect3.htm

knowledge to specific examples. This requires an understanding of interpersonal and group

dynamics.

Given the rapid pace of change in the business world, public accountants must understand the
methods for creating and managing change in organizations. The professional environment is also
characterized by rapidly increasing dependence on technological support. No understanding of
organizations could be complete without attention to the current and future roles of information
technology in client organizations and accounting practice.

Accounting and Auditing Knowledge

Post-secondary education should provide a strong fundamental understanding of accounting and

auditing. This includes the history of the accounting profession and accounting thought, as well as
the content, concepts, structure and meaning of reporting for organizational operations both for
internal and external use. A companion area includes the methods for gathering, summarizing and
analyzing financial data. Entering practitioners must also understand the meaning and application of,
as well as the methodology for, attest services.

Accounting knowledge cannot focus solely on the construction of data. The ability to apply decision
rules embodied in the accounting model is only a part of the goal. Accountants must be able use the
data, exercise judgments, evaluate risks and solve real-world problems.

Passing the CPA examination should not be the goal of accounting education. The focus should be
on developing analytical and conceptual thinking—versus memorizing rapidly expanding professional
standards.

3 of 3 5/19/99 11:10 AM